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Jesus our Model

(This is a series of essays on various teachings of LORD/Jesus other than Sermon on the Mount, and on how Jesus lived his life on Earth.)

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away
Resist Adultery and Food sacrificed to Idols

Jesus : You have heard that it was said 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. [Mt 5:27-30]

Jesus : Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. [Mt 18:7-9]

Jesus fasted 40 days and night. Jesus faced constant threat of death during these 40 days, [Mt 4:1-10]

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of GOD, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of GOD.'"

Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of GOD, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your GOD.'"

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written , 'You shall worship the LORD your GOD, and him only shall you serve.'"

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.

(Note : Jesus faced constant threat of death during these 40 days. Yet he remembered firmly LORD's teachings. It is LORD's teachings that enabled him to triumph over temptations. Therefore we should do the same to resist temptations.

Many people will become BEAST when threatened by death : e.g. in POW (Prisoner of War) camp, where food is scarce, many would betray their friends to obtain a little more food, or would resort to stealing his neighbour's food, ...

Therefore, we should learn from Jesus - hold fast LORD's teachings even under very adverse situations.
)

Apostles and elders from Jerusalem : [Act 15:28-29] For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things : that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity."
(Note : Modern people would rarely eat blood nowadays, but unchastity and food which have been offered to idols are very common. We MUST resist these two temptations.)

[Num 25:1-2] While Israel dwelt in Shittim the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.
(Note : It was Balaam, the fallen prophet, who gave advice to the Moabites, that they should entice the Israelites to adultery, using the Moabite girls and food at offering, see [Num 25:1-2, 31:16])

Jesus' (word to the church in Ephesus) : Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. [Rev 2:6]
(Note : During the days of early church, some people, the Nicolaitans, claimed that Nicolas had received a revelation from God to practice the doctrine of "free love", which is un-restrained sex.)

Jesus' (word to the church in Pergamum) : But I have a few things against you : you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practise immorality. So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. [Rev 2:14-16]
(Note : non-believers often hold a FEAST when they offer to their gods. If Christians cannot resist invitation to such feasts of good food, then the next step would easily be adultery.)

Jesus' (word to the church in Thyatira) : I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practise immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. [Rev 2:19-20]

Commandments about adultery, etc

LORD : You shall have no other gods before me. [Ex 20:2]

LORD : You shall not commit adultery. [Ex 20:14]

LORD : consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your GOD. Keep my statutes, and do them; I am the LORD who sanctify you. [Lev 20:7-8]

LORD : You shall be holy; for I the LORD your GOD am holy [Lev 19:2]

LORD (when He created Eve for Adam) : It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. [Gen 2:18]
(Note : a wife should help her husband, much like a secretary who helps her boss.)

Jesus : Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one'? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore GOD has joined together, let no man put asunder.' [Mt 19:4-6]

Jesus : whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery. [Mt 19:9]

Jesus : Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. [Mk 10:11-12]

Jesus : Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. [Luke 16:18]

[Malachi 2:13-16]
And this again you do. You cover the LORD's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favour at your hand. You ask, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness to the covenant between you and the wife your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Has not the one GOD made and sustained for us the spirit of life? And what does he desire ? Godly offspring. So take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. "For I hate divorce, says the LORD the GOD of Israel, and covering one's garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.' [Malachi 2:13-16]
(Note : marriage is a sacred, voluntary, union of a man and woman, and the woman should assume a lesser role and be her husband's helper. Husband should love his wife, and wife should love her husband, and they together should love their children. Unfaithfulness can cause extreme grief and sorrow to your wife, who so willingly submits to you and be your helper. Infidelity can cause great jealousy and sorrow to your husband. Divorce will set a very bad example to your children, and may even ruin their future.)

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